Six out of ten Scots have rejected organised religion

The number of people who identify with the Church of Scotland has halvedALAMY

Scotland is becoming a post-religious society with a clear majority of people abandoning organised faith, research has suggested.

Findings from the country’s most authoritative survey of public attitudes has revealed that almost six out of ten Scots identify as having no religion. The figure of 58 per cent, the highest recorded, is up six points in a year and 18 points from 1999, when the figure stood at four in ten.

The differences between the moral stances of mainstream churches on issues such as same-sex marriages in church and the opinions of the public and the state are partly to blame, analysts say. The churches are seen as “socially conservative”, particularly alienating the younger sections of an increasingly liberal society.